Kristy Maute

My 7 links

I had planned on blogging about Cole’s swimming success in the pool this weekend, but found a fun surprise waiting for me in the blogging world. Kristen, The Concrete Runner, posted her 7 links this morning on her blog. 7 links is a project that is floating around blog land – fill out your 7 links, tag 5 people, and pass it on….

Kristen tagged me in her blog, so now it’s my turn. After you read mine, go read her blog. You will love it!

My most beautiful post:

April 12, 2011 – What’s in a Name?

Because I think finding breath in everything we do is the most beautiful gift we can give ourselves (and because Morgan said it was a beautiful post!), I’m picking my 2nd blog entry ever. This is my description of why I chose the name of my blog BUT I completely forgot to mention that my grandparents have called me Sunshine my entire life. I was too busy focusing on the figurative meaning behind the name. Oops!

My most popular post:

June 23, 2011 – Redefining my pregnancy truth

: Cole and Mama footprints

I’m really surprised to see that this has been my most popular post so far. It makes me happy too! A week before I struggled with writing about post about the emotions I had been feeling lately. Looks like people checked back in to read my new definition of pregnancy.

Most controversial post:

June 20, 2011 – More on our Buddha Brothers

meditation — Cole meditating before bed!

Religion is always controversial when you are speaking to someone who has a different opinion than your opinion. I must have reread and edited this post 5o times. I even had my husband read it a few times. The last thing I wanted to do was offend anyone or come across as judgemental. We have our own set of values in our house – these values including being accepting and open to everyone’s religious views. We love them all! We support what works for you. We follow what works for us.

Most helpful post:

May 5, 2011 – Not Today!

swm — Boring! the only picture on that post!

While most of my blogs don’t set out to teach anyone how to do anything, this blog got more than a few “thank you” emails. I was surprised by how many people where hanging out to something that they needed to let go of at that moment. Instead of letting something consume my thought process, I let myself off the hook for a while. My hang-up was swimming, but I think we have all experienced similar hang-ups in our lives. While I’m a big advocate of tackling things that scare me, sometimes I need to be gentle with myself and let myself off the hook.

A post whose success may surprise you:

April 18, 2011 – Training Day 1

: After my first half-marathon (love my scar!)

This post is my second most popular post. Again. Another surprise. The support I receive through my blog is amazing. Ya’ll have shown up to read on days that are so-so, days that I’m feeling great, and days that I’m down. Ya’ll show up by the masses to support me! This post is from my first day back to training after my Stress Fracture. Ya’ll showed up to listen to me talk about a 20 minute walk. Ya’ll are awesome!

Most proud of:

June 16, 2011 – My Truth about Pregnancy

: week 13 – starting to look pregnant

This might be the only blog post I’ve cried my way through writing. It was definitely at a low point when I wrote it. Things were changing in my body physically and emotionally, and I couldn’t keep up. Instead of wearing a mask and pretending that everything is all-right in my world, I took a moment to recognize what was causing my insecurities. Writing this post was therapeutic for me. Not even a week later, I bounced back and felt great. I redefined my truth (see above), and I’m embracing pregnancy with open arms.

The 5 people I nominate to complete this blog (and you should really go visit there blogs too!)

Jayme @ Runner-n-Spice

Megan @ On the Road Again

Suzanne @ Inspiring Life – Inspiring You

Taylor @ Delish World

Carolyn @ Composing Now

And don’t worry! You will hear all about Cole and his swimming in tomorrow blog post. BOB has also joined our family today! Mr. UPS man might as well be Santa Claus! Merry Christmas to Mama Moo! If I can get Cole to go for a spin around the block, I’ll be back with pictures later tonight 🙂

Race Day Weather

The Rock n Roll half-marathon is right around the corner. Six weekends until race day. With record-breaking temperature in Virginia it has been very hard to find motivation to get outside and run. Not only is it hot, I am slow. This means I am outside A LOT longer than I used to be for my runs. My training plan called for an 8 mile run this weekend. I had made up my mind going into the weekend that I would play my run by ear. If it happened, great. If it didn’t, I’d be okay. It didn’t happen saturday morning.

This morning, while I sat on the couch reading my favorite blogs, my running shoes started to whisper to me. You know you want to go for a run Kristy. You miss it. You need to run. Once that thought process creeps into my brain, there is no ignoring it. I quickly changed my clothes and filled up my Camelbak. Once again, Alex started begging to run with me. Again I said no since I knew I’d be battling the heat. Again I gave in.

I set out on my run with a plan in mind. Take it easy. Drink water. Do what feels good.

Lucky for me, our neighborhood is mostly shady!

About 2 miles into my run, I noticed Alex was acting funny. He was way to eagar to walk. After our last run, I noticed his harness had rubbed his poor doggy ~~arm~~ leg pit raw. I thought we had adjusted the harness to fit better, but I was wrong. He was favoring that leg again. We headed back home. I dropped him off at mile 2.5 with another raw leg pit.

Leaving my depressed dog behind, I headed back out again with the same plan in mind. Take it easy. Drink water. Do what feels good. If I could get to 4 miles in this heat, I’d be happy.

And that’s when my race training started to whisper to me. Today could be Race Day weather. The last half of my run, I just kept thinking Today could be race day weather. You have to be prepared for anything during a race. HEAT. Rain. Rocks in your shoe. Blisters. You feel great. Ignore the heat. Just keep running.

Our neighborhood also has great views to distract me!

I did it. I conquered 8 miles in this heat wave. I head out today at 8am. It was 84 degrees (heat index of 90 degrees). I took it easy. I drank water. I had a GU for the first time in these training cycle. I felt great. 8 miles in 1:44:48 in 84 degree weather at 18 weeks pregnant. I will take it! (I haven’t checked my garmin yet, but I don’t think my pace was that far off from my run last weekend in much cooler temperatures.)

The pool is now calling my name!

Thank you Tasha for making me hear the whisper of my running shoes this morning! Your blog got me out the door!

Simple is Good

I am absolutely LOVING our simple weekend of doing nothing together as a family. In theme with our weekend, I’m keeping this post simple. We’ve enjoyed a family movie night filled with pillows, popcorn, and sweet snacks. We’ve enjoyed a yummy breakfast. Pancakes. Bacon. Smoothies (Berries, Bananas, and Kale). We swam all day. Cole conquered the diving board and the deep end all in one day. We ate dinner at a favorite local restaurant, Flip Flops. The time in between has been filled with board games, very little computer time, and lots of family fun.

Simple is Good!

A nothing weekend…TOGETHER!

Yes! Just like everyone else, we are melting here in Virginia. Temperatures for today are reaching 99 degrees with a heat index of 120 (That’s 48 degrees C according to the online converter for you folks up in Canada!). OUCH. We won’t be spending too much time outside this weekend that doesn’t include floating in the pool. Instead, I’m trying to come up with creative ways to stay active and have fun inside.

253546_10150200287058240_583823239_7215621_3333468_n — Looking for us this weekend? You might find us here...

My dear friend Paula just moved back to the United States from Germany with her family of 4 children. She and I lived together in Alabama and Tennessee (briefly) while we were pregnant with our boys. I still wish I had a neighbor just like her. Sadly, I haven’t found one yet. I could show up whenever I wanted. My child could accidentally poop out his diaper on her couch without receiving dirty looks. We drank plenty of wine. She even saved me a few times when I was really sick. On her Facebook page today she wrote

I have been thinking about all the things I loved about Germany and how I can preserve some of them here. We never had real tv, but we watched a lot of family movies..together. The kids played outside and hours of toys…together. We rode bikes, swam and went for walks…together….keeping life simple in the US is not easy.

This certainly got my brain thinking. We definitely don’t live simple lives in this country. We think we need everything. We want to be entertained all the time. We aren’t good at enjoy simple things. While I’m not willing to give up my Air Condition on days like today, there are certainly A LOT of things I use on daily basis that really aren’t necessary. We could spend a lot more time together doing things, having fun, being kids!

I think this weekend, possibly (hopefully!) the hottest weekend of the year, is a great weekend to get creative with my families use of time. It would be very easy to wake up, turn on the TV, check Facebook, play video games, watch cartoons….ALL WEEKEND. Why waste a great family weekend staring blindly at a bunch of technology. I’m not saying I won’t watch TV or check Facebook, I just don’t want to do it all weekend. Balance and moderation! More together time, less wasted time. It’s easy to feel trapped inside by the heat wave outside. I don’t want to get trapped staring at my TV and computer all day.

The goal for the weekend is to do fun thing TOGETHER as a family.

Tonight we are having a family camp out in the living room. I ‘ve never (GASP!) seen a Harry Potter movie. We are starting with the first one tonight. Popcorn, sleep bags, and Harry Potter sounds great to me. Tomorrow morning I hope to wake up really really early. I have an 8 mile run planned. I’m hoping to run to Christian’s parent’s house and then jump in the pool afterwards. Or maybe I’ll run at the beach. After that…I don’t have any plans! No plan weekends are a wonderful treat sometimes. While I don’t know what I’ll be doing, I know I won’t be wasting my time doing nothing!

(I probably should have ran this idea by my husband before I posted this blog. Oops! Sorry Christian! Hope you want to play along!)

Quick Maute Moo check-up info: I had a quick check-up yesterday for some blood work. Maute Moo is doing great. Heart rate is up to 150 bpm. My ultrasound is also scheduled for August 11th. The big question is now will we wait or will we find out! Who knows!

What are your fun family (indoor) ideas for avoiding the heat this weekend???

And we have lift off….

True to yesterdays theme of pregnancy, I completely forgot to mention that it was the start of a new week for Maute Moo. I am now officially in my 18th week of pregnancy. This week has been a big week for me in terms of pregnancy. I feel like this week has officially launched me into the joys of pregnancy.

#1 – Yesterday was the first time people felt comfortable enough to ask me if I’m pregnant! I see a lot people at work through out the day. Some I know really well. Those people know I’m pregnant. Some people I see all the time, and we wave and smile. It’s these people who have started asking if I’m having a baby. Two people asked yesterday. Another person asked today. Today’s question came from a complete stranger. She is a yoga instructor at the Rec Center, and I meet her for the first time today. I guess I really look pregnant!!!

#2 – I know without a doubt that I felt Maute Moo today. For about a week now, I’ve been speculating that there is a lot of movement in my belly but nothing that made me feel confident to call it a kick. Today at lunch Maute Moo was kicking – or head butting or body slamming. He/She was moving!

#3 – We purchased our first baby item today! Besides buying a baby book a few months back, we haven’t bought anything for Maute Moo yet. We’ve been lucky enough to receive some amazing gifts already. Our checking account has been safe until today. This morning at work I got an email from my friend Kandice. BOBs are on sale a Babies R Us. I knew before we were even pregnant that I wanted a BOB. The price tag is slightly intimidating. Okay let’s be honest – the price tag is INCREDIBLY intimidating. They are expensive. I’ve looked at other brands. I’ve checked Craigslist for used ones. My heart really wants a BOB and so do my running legs. Everyone swears by them. Everyone says they are worth every penny. We took the leap of faith and ordered one. Thanks to the wonderful world of Facebook, my friend Tracy mentioned that they would honor an additional coupon if you call. I called. They honored it. We got an AMAZING deal on our BOB. It’s a brand new 2010 Revolution (Why do I feel like I’m talking about a new car?).

pTRU1-3532182dt — This makes my heart happy!!!!

Do you remember when I posted about my broken Garmin a few weeks ago? I mentioned how horrible I am at talking on the phone. Normally I would have asked Christian to call Babies R Us. If there is one thing that I dread more than making phone calls, it is asking for a bargain. With the size of the BOB’s price tag, I knew it was worth a phone call, and Christian is up to his eyeballs with work events. I sucked it up, and I called. The man on the other end of the phone wasn’t too eager to give me an extra discount, but when I asked again he said yes! Maybe I’m not so bad at the phone stuff after all.

I’m looking pregnant. I’m feeling the baby. My dream running stroller could be delivered to my doorstep as early as Friday. Today is a good day in my pregnant world!